How Do Servo Motors Work

By Frances Reed

This little motor is high in efficiency and power

Servo motors have been around for a long time and are utilized in many applications. They are small
in size but pack a big punch and are very energy-efficient. These features allow them to be used to
operate remote-controlled or radio-controlled toy cars, robots and airplanes. Servo motors are also
used in industrial applications, robotics, in-line manufacturing, pharmaceutics and food services. But
how do the little guys work?

The servo circuitry is built right inside the motor unit and has a positionable shaft, which usually is
fitted with a gear (as shown below). The motor is controlled with an electric signal which determines
the amount of movement of the shaft.

What's inside the servo?

Hitec HS-322HD Standard Heavy Duty Servo

To fully understand how the servo works, you need to take a look under the hood. Inside there is a
pretty simple set-up: a small DC motor, potentiometer, and a control circuit. The motor is attached
by gears to the control wheel. As the motor rotates, the potentiometer's resistance changes, so the
control circuit can precisely regulate how much movement there is and in which direction.

When the shaft of the motor is at the desired position, power supplied to the motor is stopped. If not,
the motor is turned in the appropriate direction. The desired position is sent via electrical pulses
through the signal wire. The motor's speed is proportional to the difference between its actual
position and desired position. So if the motor is near the desired position, it will turn slowly, otherwise
it will turn fast. This is called proportional control. This means the motor will only run as hard as
necessary to accomplish the task at hand, a very efficient little guy.

How is the servo controlled?

The guts of a servo motor (L) and an assembled servo (R)

Servos are controlled by sending an electrical pulse of variable width, or pulse width
modulation (PWM), through the control wire. There is a minimum pulse, a maximum pulse, and a
repetition rate. A servo motor can usually only turn 90 degrees in either direction for a total of 180
degree movement. The motor's neutral position is defined as the position where the servo has the
same amount of potential rotation in the both the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. The PWM
sent to the motor determines position of the shaft, and based on the duration of the pulse sent via the
control wire; the rotor will turn to the desired position. The servo motor expects to see a pulse every
20 milliseconds (ms) and the length of the pulse will determine how far the motor turns. For example,
a 1.5ms pulse will make the motor turn to the 90-degree position. Shorter than 1.5ms moves it to 0
degrees, and any longer than 1.5ms will turn the servo to 180 degrees.

Variable Pulse width control

servo position

When these servos are commanded to move, they will move to the position and hold that position. If
an external force pushes against the servo while the servo is holding a position, the servo will resist
from moving out of that position. The maximum amount of force the servo can exert is called
the torque rating of the servo. Servos will not hold their position forever though; the position pulse
must be repeated to instruct the servo to stay in position.

Types of Servo Motors

There are two types of servo motors - AC and DC. AC servo can handle higher current surges and
tend to be used in industrial machinery. DC servos are not designed for high current surges and are
usually better suited for smaller applications. Generally speaking, DC motors are less expensive than
their AC counterparts. These are also servo motors that have been built specifically for continuous
rotation, making it an easy way to get your robot moving. They feature two ball bearings on the output
shaft for reduced friction and easy access to the rest-point adjustment potentiometer.

Servo Motor Applications

Servos are used in radio-controlled airplanes to position control surfaces like elevators, rudders,
walking a robot, or operating grippers. Servo motors are small, have built-in control circuitry and have
good power for their size.

In food services and pharmaceuticals, the tools are designed to be used in harsher environments,
where the potential for corrosion is high due to being washed at high pressures and temperatures
repeatedly to maintain strict hygiene standards. Servos are also used in in-line manufacturing,
where high repetition yet precise work is necessary.

Of course, you don't have to know how a servo works to use one, but as with most electronics, the
more you understand, the more doors open for expanded projects and projects' capabilities.
Whether you're a hobbyist building robots, an engineer designing industrial systems, or just
constantly curious, where will servo motors take you?
What is Servo Motor?
This is nothing but a simple electrical motor, controlled with the
help of servomechanism. If the motor as controlled device,
associated with servomechanism is DC motor, then it is commonly
known DC Servo Motor. If the controlled motor is operated by
AC, it is called AC Servo Motor.

Servo Motor Theory

There are some special types of application of electrical motor
where rotation of the motor is required for just a certain angle
not continuously for long period of time. For these applications,
some special types of motor are required with some special
arrangement which makes the motor to rotate a certain angle for
a given electrical input (signal). For this purpose servo motor
comes into picture. This is normally a simple DC motor which is
controlled for specific angular rotation with the help of additional
servomechanism (a typical closed loop feedback control system).
Now day’s servo system has huge industrial applications.

Servo motor applications are also commonly seen in remote

controlled toy cars for controlling the direction of motion and it is
also very commonly used as the motor which moves the tray of a
CD or DVD player. Besides these, there are other hundreds of
servo motor applications we see in our daily life. The main reason
behind using a servo is that it provides angular precision, i.e. it
will only rotate as much we want and then stop and wait for next
signal to take further action. This is unlike a normal electrical
motor which starts rotating as and when power is applied to it
and the rotation continues until we switch off the power. We
cannot control the rotational progress of electrical motor, but we
can only control the speed of rotation and can turn it ON and OFF.

Application

Servo motor mechanism is used in a large number of applications

which are critical in position control. We cannot use DC motor to
control a tail of aircraft because controlling a DC motor for
accurate positioning is not only difficult but almost impossible.
Servo Motor in Robotics

One of the most popular servo motor applications is robotic.

Consider a simple pick and place robot.
Pick and place robot is such a robotic machine which is used to
pick an object from one position and place the object at different
position. Now, in order to pick an object from position A and place
it in position B the motors which are used to actuate the joints
are servo motors. This is because; we have to plan the angular
movement of each and every joint to complete this task of pick
and place. Once this data is fed to the robot controller, the robot
will continuously do its job. The controller will send PWM data to
the individual motors of the robot. This gives precise angular
control of the arm which is not possible with a regular DC motor.

Servo Motor in Conveyors

Conveyors are used in Industrial manufacturing and assembling

units to pass an object from one assembly station to another.
Let’s consider an example of bottle filling process, in the process
the bottle needs to be filled with the liquid and moved to the next
stage which is mainly the packaging stage. So in order to achieve
this conveyor belts are used with servo motors so that the bottle
moves precisely to the desired location and stops so that the
liquid can be poured into it and then it is guided to the next
stage. This process continues until stopped. Hence the precise
position control ability of the servo shaft comes in handy.

Servo Motor Applications AS Camera Auto Focus

Today’s modern digital cameras are very advanced. One of the

advanced features is its ability to auto focus on the object to be
captured. When the image of the object is created within the
digital signal processor of the camera, it is checked for sharpness.
Basically, if the focal length (measured from camera lens) is not
proper, the image appears to be blurred. The corrective action to
position the lens precisely so that the sharpest image is captured
is done using a highly precise servo motor fitted within the
camera. This is another important example of servo motor
applications.

Servo Motor in Robotic Vehicle

The robotic vehicles today which are used for highly complex
military as well as industrial applications use servo motors for
wheels. Here, the angular movement is not of importance since
the servo used is a continuous rotation servo. The ability of the
servo to generate enough torque so as to quickly move the
vehicle from halt and then to quickly stop it as well is what is
important. Also the velocity with which the vehicle should move
can be controlled.

Servo Motor in Solar Tracking System

Solar power generation and usage is gaining importance as

people move towards clean and renewable energy regime.
Earlier, Solar panels that were installed were static and remained
in one position for the entire duration of the day. General Science
dictates that the Sun is not always facing in one direction and
that its position relative to the Solar panel will change. This
implies that we are not fully utilizing the power of the sun to
extract maximum energy out of it. But, if we attach servo motors
to the solar panel s in such a way that we are able to precisely
control its angle of movement so that it closely follows the Sun,
then the overall efficiency of the system vastly increases.
This is another application of servo where angle control is critical
and achievable by a servo motor.

Servomotor
A servomotor is a rotary actuator or linear actuator that allows for precise control of
angular or linear position, velocity and acceleration.[1] It consists of a suitable motor
coupled to a sensor for position feedback. It also requires a relatively sophisticated
controller, often a dedicated module designed specifically for use with servomotors.
Servomotors are not a specific class of motor although the term servomotor is often
used to refer to a motor suitable for use in a closed-loop control system.
Servomotors are used in applications such as robotics, CNC machinery or automated
manufacturing.

MechanismEdit
A servomotor is a closed-loop servomechanism that uses position feedback to control its
motion and final position. The input to its control is a signal, either analogue or digital,
representing the position commanded for the output shaft.
The motor is paired with some type of encoder to provide position and speed feedback. In the
simplest case, only the position is measured. The measured position of the output is compared
to the command position, the external input to the controller. If the output position differs
from that required, an error signal is generated which then causes the motor to rotate in either
direction, as needed to bring the output shaft to the appropriate position. As the positions
approach, the error signal reduces to zero and the motor stops.
The very simplest servomotors use position-only sensing via a potentiometer and bang-bang
control of their motor; the motor always rotates at full speed (or is stopped). This type of
servomotor is not widely used in industrial motion control, but it forms the basis of the
simple and cheap servos used for radio-controlled models.
More sophisticated servomotors use optical rotary encoders to measure the speed of the
output shaft[2] and a variable-speed drive to control the motor speed.[3] Both of these
enhancements, usually in combination with a PID control algorithm, allow the servomotor to
be brought to its commanded position more quickly and more precisely, with
less overshooting.[4]
Servomotors vs. stepper motorsEdit
A servomotor consumes power as it rotates to the commanded position but then the
servomotor rests. Stepper motors continue to consume power to lock in and hold the
commanded position.
Servomotors are generally used as a high-performance alternative to the stepper motor.
Stepper motors have some inherent ability to control position, as they have built-in output
steps. This often allows them to be used as an open-loop position control, without any
feedback encoder, as their drive signal specifies the number of steps of movement to rotate,
but for this the controller needs to 'know' the position of the stepper motor on power up.
Therefore, on first power up, the controller will have to activate the stepper motor and turn it
to a known position, e.g. until it activates an end limit switch. This can be observed when
switching on an inkjet printer; the controller will move the ink jet carrier to the extreme left
and right to establish the end positions. A servomotor will immediately turn to whatever
angle the controller instructs it to, regardless of the initial position at power up.
The lack of feedback of a stepper motor limits its performance, as the stepper motor can only
drive a load that is well within its capacity, otherwise missed steps under load may lead to
positioning errors and the system may have to be restarted or recalibrated. The encoder and
controller of a servomotor are an additional cost, but they optimise the performance of the
overall system (for all of speed, power and accuracy) relative to the capacity of the basic
motor. With larger systems, where a powerful motor represents an increasing proportion of
the system cost, servomotors have the advantage.

There has been increasing popularity in closed loop stepper motors in recent years. They act
like servomotors but have some differences in their software control to get smooth motion.
The top 3 manufacturers of closed loop stepper motor systems employ magnetic encoders as
their feedback device of choice due to low cost and resistance to vibration. The main benefit
of a closed loop stepper motor is the cost to performance ratio. There is also no need to tune
the PID controller on a closed loop stepper system.[5]
Many applications, such as laser cutting machines, may be offered in two ranges, the low-
priced range using stepper motors and the high-performance range using servomotors.[6]
EncodersEdit
The first servomotors were developed with synchros as their encoders.[7] Much work was
done with these systems in the development of radar and anti-aircraft artillery during World
War II. [8]
Simple servomotors may use resistive potentiometers as their position encoder. These are
only used at the very simplest and cheapest level, and are in close competition with stepper
motors. They suffer from wear and electrical noise in the potentiometer track. Although it
would be possible to electrically differentiate their position signal to obtain a speed
signal, PID controllers that can make use of such a speed signal generally warrant a more
precise encoder.
Modern servomotors use rotary encoders, either absolute or incremental. Absolute encoders
can determine their position at power-on, but are more complicated and expensive.
Incremental encoders are simpler, cheaper and work at faster speeds. Incremental systems,
like stepper motors, often combine their inherent ability to measure intervals of rotation with
a simple zero-position sensor to set their position at start-up.
Instead of servomotors, sometimes a motor with a separate, external linear encoder is
used.[9] These motor + linear encoder systems avoid inaccuracies in the drivetrain between
the motor and linear carriage, but their design is made more complicated as they are no
longer a pre-packaged factory-made system.

MotorsEdit
The type of motor is not critical to a servomotor and different types may be used. At the
simplest, brushed permanent magnet DC motors are used, owing to their simplicity and low
cost. Small industrial servomotors are typically electronically commutated brushless
motors.[10] For large industrial servomotors, AC induction motors are typically used, often
with variable frequency drives to allow control of their speed. For ultimate performance in a
compact package, brushless AC motors with permanent magnet fields are used, effectively
large versions of Brushless DC electric motors.[11]
Drive modules for servomotors are a standard industrial component. Their design is a branch
of power electronics, usually based on a three-phase MOSFET or IGBT H bridge. These
standard modules accept a single direction and pulse count (rotation distance) as input. They
may also include over-temperature monitoring, over-torque and stall detection features.[12]As
the encoder type, gearhead ratio and overall system dynamics are application specific, it is
more difficult to produce the overall controller as an off-the-shelf module and so these are
often implemented as part of the main controller.
ControlEdit
Most modern servomotors are designed and supplied around a dedicated controller module
from the same manufacturer. Controllers may also be developed around microcontrollers in
order to reduce cost for large-volume applications.[citation needed]
Integrated servomotorsEdit
Integrated servomotors are designed so as to include the motor, driver, encoder and
associated electronics into a single package.[13][14]
 ReferencesEdit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Servomotors.
1. ^ http://www.princeton.edu/~mae412/TEXT/NTRAK2002/292-302.pdf
2. ^ Suk-Hwan Suh; Seong Kyoon Kang; Dae-Hyuk Chung; Ian Stroud (22 August
2008). Theory and Design of CNC Systems. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 11–
. ISBN 978-1-84800-336-1. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
3. ^ Jacek F. Gieras (3 June 2011). Permanent Magnet Motor Technology: Design and
Applications, Third Edition. CRC Press. pp. 26–. ISBN 978-1-4398-5901-8.
4. ^ Ralf Der; Georg Martius (11 January 2012). The Playful Machine: Theoretical Foundation
and Practical Realization of Self-Organizing Robots. Springer Science & Business Media.
pp. 302–. ISBN 978-3-642-20253-7.
5. ^ "Fastech Closed Loop Stepper Motors". Fastech Korea.
6. ^ "Legend Elite laser series". Epilog Laser. Servo motors are incorporated in both the X and
Y axes of every Legend Elite Series laser. These motors are known for their fast acceleration
and deceleration speeds.
7. ^ Upson, A.R.; Batchelor, J.H. (1978) [1965]. Synchro Engineering Handbook. Beckenham:
Muirhead Vactric Components. pp. 7, 67–90.
8. ^ "Naval Ordnance and Gunnery, Volume 1", 1957, U.S. Navy Manual, Chapter 10.
9. ^ "Accupoint™ Linear Encoders". Epilog Laser.
10. ^ "Brushless DC motor cores for servomotors". Maxon Motor.
11. ^ "Compact Dynamic Brushless Servo Motor". Moog Inc.
12. ^ "Brushless PWM Servo Amplifiers" (PDF). Advanced Motion Control.
13. ^ Max A. Denket (2006). Frontiers in Robotics Research. Nova Publishers. pp. 44–
. ISBN 978-1-60021-097-6.
14. ^ Jacek F. Gieras (22 January 2002). Permanent Magnet Motor Technology: Design and
Applications, Second Edition,. CRC Press. pp. 283–. ISBN 978-0-8247-4394-9.